NEW BEDFORD — A special prosecutor will have “complete autonomy” in the prosecution of Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s daughter — charged with witness intimidation — and the district attorney’s office will have no involvement in the case, officials said.

Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter, said their office will have no role in the prosecution of Michelle L. Hodgson, 29, of New Bedford, after the appointment of a special prosecutor to the case.

“It was assigned to a special prosecutor, and that’s the end of our involvement in the entire matter,” Miliote said.

“I act in the place of the district attorney and have complete autonomy,” said the special prosecutor, William Connolly of Boston.

Connolly, a former federal and county prosecutor who is now in private practice in Boston, will be paid $100 per hour while he works on the case, according to Miliote.

That is the same rate received by other special prosecutors in the state as well as public defenders when they handle murder cases, he said.

Michelle Hodgson has pleaded not guilty and is charged in connection with a disturbance in the early-morning hours of Aug. 2 outside Jalice Cafe, a New Bedford nightclub, where seven people were shot.

She told a New Bedford police officer she was the sheriff’s daughter and would have his job when she was arrested, according to police.

She is next scheduled to appear in New Bedford District Court on Oct. 29.

Miliote said Connolly was brought into the case at Michelle Hodgson’s arraignment because of the “personal and professional relationship” between Sutter and the sheriff.

“It’s the right thing to do to avoid an appearance of a conflict of interest,” he said.